Page 78 of The Arcane God

“I’m with you,” she said with steel in her voice. “If you all go back, I’ll join you. I can’t speak for the stryx, but I will help you in any way I can. I just needed you to know the truth of what you’re dealing with.”

Ty nodded, feeling a sense of…pride almost, in this person who in so many ways was still a stranger to him, and yet he saw in such a new way now.

“I will stand with you too,” Max said. “Because where Kaya goes, I go. I can’t speak for everyone, but I will do my best to help them see that this is right path for us. For our survival, and yours.”

Ty moved towards him, and clapped the man on the shoulder in thanks.

“Are you going to wait until Ena gives birth?” Kaya asked, looking over at the woman in question.

“Yes,” Ty said. “We don’t want to risk traveling with her so close to the birth, but once she does, and is well enough to travel, we’ll leave.”

“Where will we go when we arrive there?” Kaya asked. “I assume we’ll need a safe place to gather and plan. Have you given that much thought yet?”

It was a fair question, and one they hadn’t truly fleshed out yet. They couldn’t just all descend on the Underworld as soon as they arrived. They’d need a place to rendezvous with their allies—including Steig, hopefully, so they could understand the state of the Underworld—and regain their strength after the journey while they came up with a plan of attack.

“We should go to my Coven,” Ena said. “My sister is the matriarch, and if we have a chance at being accepted anywhere, it’s there. I know she’s already begun to break the news to them about the binding ritual, and hopefully…they will accept us all. It’s not a sure thing, but it’s the best option, I think.”

“Too bad you already used your vial of water from the Sacred Pool, otherwise you could warn her about us coming,” Turner said unhelpfully.

“Are you talking about a blood-to-blood spell?” Kaya asked.

“Yes,” Ena replied. “My sister gave me some water from the Sacred Pool to communicate with her, but I used it after Ty was lost.”

“Well, you’re in luck then,” Kaya answered, a kind smile warming her face. “We have an entire lake filled with sacred water on this side of the Chasm Mountains.”

“The cloud lake?” Ena asked excitedly, referring to the spot where Xena had had her Awakening.

“The one and the same,” Kaya replied.

“Sounds like it’s settled then,” Ty said. “We’ll go to the cloud lake and send a message to Greya, to warn her of our arrival in a couple months’ time.”

And then, once the baby was born, they’d take out the bastard, removing the rot that he’d caused, once and for all.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Ena

Time was of the essence with Ena so close to her due date, and the possibility of another storm was always imminent, so Ena, Ty, Turner, and Xena set out on foot the next day for the cloud lake. The path they took was too steep for the horses, so Ena had to make do walking on her own, and while hiking several miles a day when she felt like she had a boulder attached to her front was no easy feat, the prospect of talking to Greya again made the whole trip worth it.

The weather was pleasant enough as they hiked, and Ena found herself walking beside Xena on the morning of their second day as they climbed the final ascent to the cloud lake. Xena was stoic, as always, but Ena was bored, and wanted something to distract herself from the uncomfortable feeling of the baby pushing on her lungs, so she struck up a conversation.

“So, you excited to travel to the other side of the Chasm Mountains?” Ena asked casually.

Xena looked over at her, as if surprised by the question. “Yes, I suppose,” she replied. “Though I will miss…home.”

“I understand that,” Ena said, thinking of her own home, and the way she missed it too. Or rather, the way she missed how it used to be when she still belonged there. “But I think you will find life easier there, eventually. If I’ve learned anything, it’s that we can’t always stay home, no matter how much part of us wants to.”

Xena sighed, as if this same thought had entered her own head many times too. “I do wonder, though, if you think we will be accepted?” she asked. “By witches and…by the daemons?”

“I hope so,” Ena answered truthfully. She wasn’t quite sure how everyone would react.

“Is it true that daemons and witches are forbidden from being with one another?” Xena asked, almost hesitantly, like she was dancing around the question she really wanted to ask.

“Well, not expressly forbidden, but our races are enemies—foil opposites—so it is not encouraged, hence why Kaya was banished, and why I did not feel comfortable delivering my baby amongst my Coven,” Ena explained.

“And what about the stryx? Do you think that will…be allowed?”

“Relations between the stryx and witches?”